Double Act
by Vicky4
Summary: Jesse's new girlfriend causes conflict between him and Steve which threatens to ruin their Christmas


Title: Double Act.  
  
Author: Vicky  
  
Certificate: PG  
  
E-mail: angel@diagnosismurder.znn.com  
  
Summary: Jesse's new girlfriend causes conflict between him and Steve, which threatens to ruin their Christmas.  
  
Disclaimer: None of the Characters, Mark, Steve, Jesse or Amanda belong to me, they belong to CBS, I am only borrowing them not using them to make money.  
  
* * * *  
  
Mark was sitting in the doctor's lounge reading a catalogue trying to work out what to get his son Steve for Christmas when Jesse came in with a great big grin on his face.  
  
"Well someone's happy today" Mark greeted his young friend,  
  
"And why shouldn't they be," replied Jesse, "The weather is good, Christmas is coming and well everything is going so well."  
  
"So everything's working out between you and Kathryn is it?"  
  
"Yep, she's so wonderful Mark, I've just never felt like this before, you know it's just like we've known each other for years instead of days."  
  
"I know exactly what you mean, I felt that way about my Kathryn." replied Mark, "She was the most wonderful person I knew."  
  
"Maybe it's the name." Jesse joked.  
  
"Well, why don't you invite her over sometime, I don't think Steve'll mind and we could have Amanda too, and she could meet your wonderful friends." Mark suggested.  
  
"Ok I'll do that, when do you suggest?"  
  
"How about tomorrow?"  
  
"Fine, I'll ask her tonight." Jesse confirmed as he went out of the doctor's lounge to go on his patient rounds before heading home to talk to Katherine.  
  
* * * *  
  
When Mark came home from the work that day he found Steve searching through gift catalogues in the jewellery section.  
  
"Hi son," Mark said, "what are you reading those for?"  
  
"Dad I'm trying to find a special present for Katie for Christmas, but I just don't know what to get, I don't want it to be boring, but I want it to be special but not over the top, just perfect really." Steve replied.  
  
"Well she must be very special if you're looking in that price range." Mark commented, "need any help?"  
  
"She is Dad, and would you mind? What sort of stuff did you buy Mom?"  
  
"Well I used to buy something that was full of love, something that reflected me, so she'd remember me whenever she wore it, nothing too fancy either."  
  
"That's exactly what I want to get Dad, what do you think?"  
  
Steve and Mark spent quite some time searching through the catalogues until they came up with a beautiful silver pendant with a blue jewel inside it.  
  
"Perfect" said Steve, "I'll get it tomorrow."  
  
"So when do I get to meet the wonderful Lady?" Mark asked, "Jesse's bringing his new girl around tomorrow, how about then?"  
  
"Not tomorrow, she's flying home to finally bring home the remainder of her parents belongings. But when she returns I'll bring her over to meet you all."  
  
* * * *  
  
The following day Mark and Amanda were sorting out the beach house to make sure it was perfect for when Jesse and Kathryn arrived. Mark had cooked the food and Amanda had set the table out beautifully with Candles to reflect the mood of Christmas coming. Shortly after everything had been sorted Jesse arrived at the door with Kathryn.  
  
Jesse nervously came in with Kathryn slightly behind him. Jesse started making the introductions without him.  
  
"Mark, Amanda, this is Kathryn, Kathryn this is Mark and Amanda." Jesse said desperately hoping they would all get on.  
  
"Hello, nice to meet you." Mark replied, "Steve, my son will be here soon, he just had to pick up a Christmas gift for someone special today."  
  
"Will she be coming?" Jesse asked  
  
"No she's had to go bring her parents belongings home from Oklahoma to here." Mark replied, "But you didn't come here to discuss Steve's new girl."  
  
"No, we didn't, but that's ok, I've really been looking forward to meeting you all, Jesse talks about you guys so much." replied Kathryn.  
  
"Nothing bad I hope," teased Amanda  
  
"Well, not too bad" joked Jesse.  
  
"Ok, guys, Jesse do you wanna show Kathryn around whilst we wait for Steve." Mark then talked to Kathryn, "If you stay with Jesse this'll probably end up being your home as well as his!!"  
  
As Jesse took Kathryn around this house, Steve arrived home and went to place his gift down in his half of the house. At the same time Jesse and Kathryn returned to the dining room where the table was. Mark was just telling Jesse that Steve was here when he came up.  
  
"Steve," Jesse began, "This is...."  
  
"Katie?" Steve said in disbelief, "Katie I thought you were going home to you're..."  
  
"Steve what are you talking about this is Kathryn not Katie." Jesse said to Steve shocked that his friend would even say such a thing.  
  
"Katie what are you doing?" cried Steve.  
  
"I don't know who you think I am but I am not Katie," replied Kathryn, "Obviously you're mixing me up with someone else, I'm defiantly Kathryn."  
  
"Steve, maybe you must be wrong," Jesse almost pleaded,  
  
"Lets have dinner, shall we," Mark replied, trying to cheer up this situation. Everyone sat down to dinner numbly wondering what on earth was going on. Mark and Amanda tried their best to make it work by asking Kathryn all sorts of questions about herself, where she'd come from, what she did, he likes and other stuff. Kathryn did her best to answer and Jesse occasionally said a word or two, but Steve didn't say anything. After the meal Kathryn and Jesse said their thank you's and goodbyes and left leaving Steve to explain his behaviour to Mark and Amanda.  
  
* * * *  
  
The next day Steve went round to Jesse's apartment. He really had no idea what to say. His Dad had told him to go round and apologise to Jesse for ruining his evening. After Jesse and Katie or Kathryn had left that night Amanda had tactfully gone home leaving Steve alone with his Dad. Mark tried to reason saying that maybe there had been a resemblance between the two girls, but Steve knew what he saw, and it was definitely Katie his girlfriend and she had been with Jesse. But he couldn't understand how she could betray him like that, he thought she loved him, but he must have been wrong.  
  
As Steve looked up from his thoughts he saw Jesse's apartment in front of him. He stood their numbly not knowing what to do, whether he should go back home or stay there. He'd have turned round right there and then and gone home, but Jesse came out, he seemed to be in a much better mood than Steve was, he was even smiling and he invited him to come in. Steve had no choice but to follow his friend inside. Once they were inside, Jesse started to speak,  
  
"Look Steve, I know what happened last night was weird, but I promise you that she really is Kathryn and she didn't even know who you were till then. Whoever this Katie is, it's not the same person."  
  
"Are you telling me I'm lying?" Steve started angrily, he didn't want to shout at Jesse, he was his best friend, but well he didn't think before he said it.  
  
"No, I just think your confused or it was a mistake but Kathryn swears she's never seen you before." Jesse began,  
  
"Well she would wouldn't she." Steve retorted  
  
"What's that supposed to mean Steve, just because your wrong doesn't mean that you have to come here blaming me for it."  
  
"look Jesse, I know what I saw and your girlfriend last night was not Kathryn it was Katie, the girl I thought loved me, double crossed me with you, and I intend to prove it." Steve shouted at Jesse as he stormed out.  
  
"Steve,....Steve...." Jesse started but Steve had already gone, Jesse didn't know what to do, his best friend didn't believe him, he thought he was two timing him, what could he do?  
  
* * * *  
  
Jesse came in to the doctors lounge for the second time that week to see Mark reading gift catalogues, but his mood was very different from what it had been two days ago. So much had happened then, and he just didn't know what to do, was Steve right and Kathryn or Katie or whoever was really one in the same cheating on them both, no it couldn't be, but still he had this nagging thought that wouldn't go away.  
  
"Care to talk about it?" Mark started gently,  
  
"I don't know Mark, Steve came over today and well..." Jesse started  
  
"I take it, it didn't go to well," Mark replied, "It's my fault really, I told him to go over, talk to you, realise that he made a mistake and apologise for ruining your evening, Sorry."  
  
"It's not your fault, I'm just really confused, I mean Kathryn swears she's never even seen Steve before last night, much less been going out with him, and Steve doesn't believe it, he's just well, he said he was gonna prove they are the same person. Mark I really don't know what to do." Jesse finished.  
  
"Leave it for a while Jess, Steve's realise he's made a mistake and everything will work out, in the mean time talk to Kathryn tell her about it and it'll work itself out."  
  
"But what if Steve is right, what then?" Jesse protested.  
  
"Look, worry about that if it happens, take the rest of the day off and go talk to Kathryn and sort yourselves out, leave Steve to me."  
  
"Ok, Mark and Thanks."  
  
"That's what friends are for." Mark finished.  
  
* * * *  
  
After his talk with Jesse, Steve had wondered around not really knowing what to do, he'd been on the beach for quite sometime before he decided to head home. He really wasn't sure what to do next, as knowing he'd seen Katie and proving were obviously two different things and she obviously didn't want him to know.  
  
As Steve came into his living room he automatically pressed play on his answer machine and he heard Katie's voice fill the room. He heard her say how much she missed him and couldn't wait to get back to him, that the move was going well and she'd call him back later. Suddenly Steve couldn't wait till she phoned later, he picked up the phone and called her. After five rings Steve was about to put the phone down as he realised what he was doing Katie answered. Hearing her voice once again made him realise how much he missed her.  
  
* * * *  
  
Over the next few days both life got back to a semi-normal state for everyone. Jesse and Steve carried on with their relationships with Kathryn and or Katie and no on really said anything about the incident between them all. A few weeks past and they were well into December, the Christmas rush at the hospital seemed to be less this year and so Mark, Jesse and Amanda all had more time off to get their Christmas gifts for their friends and family. Steve found that not much was going on at the station and so he too had more time to spend buying his Christmas gifts. Jesse and Steve kept out of each other's way to avoid any more incidents about their girlfriends and so the two friends didn't know exactly what the other one was doing.  
  
About two weeks later Mark decided that enough space had been left and he approached Steve with the idea of inviting Katie round for a meal.  
  
"Steve, it's been quite sometime now since I asked you when I was gonna meet Katie and it hasn't happened yet. Do you wanna invite her round tomorrow and introduce us to your friends."  
  
"Sure Dad, I'll invite her, we were gonna go out for diner, but we've been to Bob's so much lately that perhaps we need a change." Steve replied, "Will Jess bring his girlfriend?"  
  
"I don't know I haven't invited her, do you want to?" Mark replied cautiously as he didn't want to cause any arguments, he just wanted a peaceful meeting for Steve's sake.  
  
"Sure go ahead and invite her, I don't mind." Steve said much to Mark surprise, he really didn't expect his son to react like that."  
  
* * * *  
  
The following day, Jesse, Mark, Amanda and Steve were all in the beach house waiting for Katie to arrive. Jesse had sent Kathryn's apologies for not being able to come, as she had to work late that evening. Both Jesse and Steve were a little nervous as neither of them had really talked to each other, much less about their girlfriends and here they were waiting for Katie to arrive. Neither of them really knew what to expect.  
  
The doorbell rung shortly afterwards and Steve rushed to answer the door, Mark gave Jesse a reassuring smile and stepped forward to meet Katie. Steve bought her in the room and started to make the introductions,  
  
"Dad, Amanda, Jesse, this is Katie, Katie this is my Dad, Amanda and Jesse."  
  
Both Amanda and Mark smiled and shock her hand, Jesse just stood their starring wide-eyed not really knowing what to do or say. Katie didn't really notice as by this time she had entered a conversation with Amanda and Mark about the house and how beautiful it was. Steve however did, he gave Jesse a meaningful look, telling him not to say anything. He also whispered to Jesse that they'd talk about it later.  
  
The evening went ahead fairly smoothly, Mark, Amanda, Steve and Katie all got on really well, spending a lot of time talking and generally getting on really well. Jesse however just sat there not knowing really what to do or say. She was not Katie, she was Kathryn and Jesse really didn't know what had happened, had Kathryn really been lying to him? Did she not love him, like she said? Why was she with Steve? Jesse had so many questions but no answers, Steve had been right, but what should he do? He loved Kathryn too much to let her go, but if she loved Steve more, what then?  
  
Suddenly Jesse's thoughts were interrupted, Katie was getting up to go as she had to help her mother this evening as her Dad was away. They all got up to walk her to the door and after she went, Mark and Amanda hurried to clear up, whilst Steve motioned to Jesse he wanted to talk to him on the balcony now.  
  
"Jesse, what on earth was wrong with you? Why did you ruin my evening? Katie means so much to me, you could at least have been polite." Steve started.  
  
"Steve, you might like Katie means a lot to you, but she obviously doesn't share your feelings." Jesse replied.  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Well that was not Katie, it was Kathryn, she's cheating on us Steve, I thought she loved me the way I loved her, but obviously not."  
  
"Jesse, shut up, your just jealous, that was Katie and she does love me." Steve retorted.  
  
"Why would I be jealous if that really was Katie?" Jesse shouted.  
  
"Because she's obviously better than Kathryn."  
  
"Don't you remember Steve, you said it yourself, that when Kathryn came round she was Katie, don't you get it, she's the same person and she's cheating on us."  
  
"Don't Jesse, I don't want to here anymore of your pathetic lies, just go home and leave us alone." Steve finished.  
  
Jesse didn't know what to do, he just walked sadly away along the beach recalling Steve's conversation with him.  
  
* * * *  
  
Although Steve had shouted at Jesse for accusing Katie of being Kathryn, it stayed with him and the nagging doubt he had had before when he had seen Katie with Jesse came back to him. He didn't know what to do, so instead of confronting Katie with it, he ignored her. Steve cancelled a lot of date with Katie and did his best to avoid seeing her.  
  
* * * *  
  
Jesse didn't know why Steve had reacted the way he had last night, was it because he was hurt or did he really think Jesse was lying? Either way Jesse was confused, he didn't know what to do. He had tried to tell Kathryn about it, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, it might only upset her and he could end up loosing her that was not a risk that Jesse was prepared to take. He had not altogether stopped talking to Kathryn, but he'd told her, he had a lot of work and needed time to think about it, and he'd call her when he was ready again. She'd said she understood but she'd sounded hurt, Jesse felt guilty about letting her down and lying to her, well about the work anyway, but he knew he needed time to think about the whole situation. Jesse realised it was probably a bad idea, but he needed to talk to Steve again, tell him what he thought, he needed to know what Steve really thought and what he was going to do about it all.  
  
Jesse found himself wondering in the direction of the beach house, ready to find Steve to talk to him. He had no real idea what he should say to Steve, what was there to say? He didn't know, but he knew that if things didn't get better between them soon, then he might end up loosing two people he really cared about, his best friend, who was like his older brother and Kathryn and both were really important to him.  
  
Jesse soon found himself at the beach house, Steve was sitting outside just staring at the ocean, Jesse hesitated, but he knew he had to sort out things between Steve and himself, he had to otherwise Christmas and probably the rest of their lives would never be the same again. Jesse went over to Steve, although he did not even register that he was there, Jesse started to speak,  
  
"Steve," Jesse started, but Steve did not respond so he carried on,  
  
"Steve, please, we've got to work this out, I'm really sorry if I ruined your night with Katie, I really didn't mean to, but well she really did look like Kathryn to me, maybe it's just me, maybe I'm wrong, if I am cheating on you, I wouldn't mean to, I wouldn't want to hurt you Steve, your my best friend, you've gotta believe me, please....." Jesse concluded after saying as many words in one breath as he could.  
  
Steve didn't respond, Jesse didn't know what to do, but he continued,  
  
"Steve, I don't want to ruin your life, this whole thing has affected me too, I don't want us to go on like this, we can't go on like this." He paused, Steve still made no reply so he continued, "Steve, I'm not seeing Kathryn at the moment, I don't know if this means anything to you, but I really like her, in fact she's the best thing that's ever happened to me, but if getting your friendship back means leaving her.....then I will.....I want us to have a good Christmas together and although I would prefer it with Kathryn, if it means leaving her to get it then I will." Jesse had finished, he hoped somewhere inside of him that it would help, that he could go on being friends with Steve the way they had used to be, but he wasn't sure that could ever happen. Steve still made no reply, so Jesse walked away, he decided to walk along the beach, watch the ocean, before heading home to his lonely house.  
  
* * * *  
  
Steve hadn't wanted Jesse to come and talk to him, he didn't want to see Jesse, so why didn't he tell him to get out of there and leave him alone. Steve didn't know why. He wasn't really sure himself what was going on, all he knew was that since last night he had been like a zombie, totally unable to communicate with the world. He didn't know what to do. Although he hadn't responded to anything Jesse had said, it had affected him, and deeply, he knew Jesse cared about their friendship, about him, why it needed Jesse to say it, he wasn't sure, he knew Jesse cared about him, he'd always known that, but Jesse actually bothering to come and say those things to Steve, really touched him, in a way he had never known before.  
  
Steve had wanted to respond to Jesse, but he had felt totally unable to, he had frozen up, and by the time he felt able to speak Jesse had gone. He had thought about running after him, but to do what? Say what? Steve didn't even know what he wanted to say to Jesse, he hadn't a clue, but he thought he ought to do something, but he didn't know what. Feeling totally helpless Steve went inside, he hoped Mark would be there so he could talk to him, but he wasn't, so Steve just went down to his half of the beach house and lay on his bed thinking, where he shortly fell asleep.  
  
* * * *  
  
Several days had passed since Jesse last spoke to Steve, Steve had still not done anything to try and show Jesse how he felt, and Mark and Amanda had become increasingly more worried about them both as well as Kathryn and Katie. The two of them were sitting in the doctor's lounge when Jesse had walked in. Jesse wasn't his usual self when he came in. In fact he looked really tired and worn out, like he hadn't slept in days, and the usual bright smiling face was not to be seen. Jesse barely said Hello to his friends, he just grabbed a cup of coffee and continued on his way to ER.  
  
Mark and Amanda were really worried seeing their young friend in this way, it was a side of him that they had not seen in a long time.  
  
"Mark, what are we going to do?" Amanda started, "We can't have Jesse like this, he's not himself and he's not happy, he's definitely over working himself to avoid the situation he's in."  
  
"I know, Steve's the same, this whole thing has really affected them both." Mark replied.  
  
"I suppose it's the same for Katie and Kathryn." commented Amanda. They were both silent for a while.  
  
"You said Katie and Kathryn?" Mark enquired. Although Amanda wasn't really sure what Mark was getting at she nodded in agreement,  
  
"You said Katie and Kathryn, not Katie or Kathryn", Mark commented, "they can't be the same person, they have different characteristics, and that's what we've got to prove to Jesse and Steve, that they're both different people." Mark finished feeling much more positive.  
  
"Ok" replied Amanda, still not entirely sure what Mark was getting at. "But how are we going to do that?" she enquired.  
  
"Easily, we get them all together for a meal, but it's got to be done carefully, we mustn't let Jesse and Steve. If I sort out Jesse and Steve, get them both to come, but thinking that the other isn't gonna be there, you invite Katie and Kathryn, tell them what's going on, I'm sure they'll wanna sort it out." Mark concluded.  
  
"Right ok, I'll get started, have you got any date in mind?"  
  
"How about next week, find out when they're both free and arrange it, I'll sort out Jesse and Steve."  
  
Both Amanda and Mark parted to attend to their various tasks in trying to get Jesse and Steve to become friends again.  
  
* * * *  
  
Mark went home that day to find Steve watching the television, he was watching children's programs, he was just watching it to help pass the time. Mark went and sat next to Steve, waiting for him to say something. He sat there for a while and nothing was said by Steve, so Mark decided to start the conversation.  
  
"Is this the best program on or are you starting you second childhood?" As Mark said that he thought he saw a glimpse of a smile coming from Steve's mouth, before he replied.  
  
"No, well not really, it's just to pass the time, I'm not really sure what to do, maybe I should go back to being a child, it might be easier."  
  
"Well hiding won't sort you problems out and your not a child anymore, so I can't really sort your problems out, but I'm still your father, so I suppose it's my time to reassure you and tell you it'll work out alright in the end."  
  
"Thanks Dad, I just wish it would start happening soon, or I might become addicted to these cartoons!!" Steve half-joked.  
  
"Well, it will, but in the mean time, I want you do something for me, but It'll also prevent you from becoming addicted to these shows." Mark commented,  
  
"Ok Dad, what do you want, and their not all that bad, Butt-Ugly Martians is pretty good, the yellow one reminds me of Jesse." Steve said and then he became quite at the mention of Jesse. Although Mark longed to say something to what Steve had just said, he knew it would push Steve back and he wouldn't get him to help in his plan.  
  
"Right next week, Amanda's Mum's taking the boys away and so she's got some time to herself, Jesse's working overtime, so I thought we'd have Amanda over a couple of days, to spend time with her friends. So you've gotta be here, she needs to relax, so no going and getting overtime." Mark told Steve,  
  
"Ok Dad, no problem I'll be there." Steve said, Mark was relieved and then he added,  
  
"And I expect you to help with the cooking, and no junk food!" Mark teased.  
  
* * * *  
  
The next day Mark saw Jesse sitting in the doctors lounge, just staring in to space, so he decided to go over and talk to him.  
  
" Wanna talk about it Jess?" Mark started.  
  
"No, I don't think so, but thanks." Jesse replied.  
  
"Ok, but I really think you shouldn't spend so much time alone at the moment, do you wanna come round next week, Steve's going undercover and I'll be on my own, I could use some company and I bet you could too." Mark said, desperately hoping his friend would take him up on his offer.  
  
"I don't know, I'm pretty busy at the moment." Jesse said  
  
"To busy to see your friends just for one evening?" Mark tried again.  
  
"I suppose not," Jesse started, "Oh alright I'll come, but just one evening."  
  
"Great" Mark said, "I'll let you know when.......Oh and Jesse, you won't regret this." Mark concluded as he walked out of the door to answer his pager.  
  
* * * *  
  
The day before everyone was coming to his house, Mark finally managed to talk to Amanda again.  
  
"Are Katie and Kathryn both coming?" Mark asked,  
  
"Yeah, they're both coming, they were sceptical at first, but after I explained why they needed to come, they understood, I think they wanna clear this all up too, they both really care about Jesse and Steve." Amanda said, "Are Jesse and Steve coming too?"  
  
"Yes, though Jesse wasn't going to at first, I just hope this works, else they're gonna kill me." Mark joked, although he really did hope it would work for everybody's sake.  
  
* * * *  
  
The following day Mark had Steve in the kitchen preparing dinner, where he hoped he would stay until everyone was here. He had purposely invited everyone to come at different times. Amanda was next to come and she went straight into the kitchen to keep Steve occupied, whilst Jesse, Kathryn and Katie arrived. Mark stood by the front door, when both Katie and Kathryn came up the drive. Mark took them in quietly and they sat in the lounge waiting for the Jesse to arrive. Finally Jesse came up the drive and Mark greeted him. He purposely made sure he and Jesse had a fairly loud conversation so that Steve would here Jesse was here and come out of the kitchen. This happened according to plan.  
  
Steve was talking to Amanda when he thought he heard Jesse talking to his dad.  
  
"Amanda, is that Jesse out there?" Steve asked,  
  
"I don't think so," Amanda started, "I didn't think Jesse was coming, but maybe he changed his mind" Amanda finished, she knew she had left enough of a question for Steve to want to go out and see what Jesse was doing here, which he did.  
  
Steve went out of the kitchen followed by Amanda, he was about to ask his dad what Jesse was doing there when he noticed Katie and Kathryn,  
  
"Katie, what are you doing...." Steve trailed off as he noticed another woman sitting there looking exactly like Katie, "Or Katie?" Steve said, he was totally confused, which one of them was Katie and who was the other one.  
  
Jesse reacted in a similar way, hearing Steve, he was about to demand to know why Steve was here when he was supposed to be undercover. But he walked out into the lounge where he saw Kathryn and another Kathryn, he instinctively started to question why Kathryn was here,  
  
"Kathryn, what exactly are you doing here," Jesse said looking at Katie, "and who is that?"  
  
Until this point both girls had remained silent, but now signalled by Mark to talk they introduced themselves properly.  
  
"Jesse," one of them started, "I'm Kathryn, not who you thought, that was Katie." She finished gently.  
  
"And," finished Katie, "As Kathryn said, I'm Katie, Steve."  
  
Both Jesse and Steve were dumb struck they just stood there and didn't say much. Mark decided that this was probably the best point to intervene,  
  
"Well, Jesse, Steve, we had to show you that there were two separate girls and that neither of you were cheating on each other. We had to do this, to prevent our Christmas and yours from being ruined, and to get you to talking again. But now, let's have dinner, otherwise it'll be burnt and wasted." Mark finished.  
  
They all went to the table for dinner and started talking between them, for the first time in weeks Mark was able to see all his family, adoptive or otherwise really happy, which made him happy too. During diner they talked about everything the confusion of them looking alike and how much they cared about each other, thanking Mark and Amanda for their input in sorting it alright, but one particular subject occupied much of the meal, Kathryn and Katie's definite resemblance.  
  
"It's just so strange that we should be so alike, I never thought I'd ever have a double." Kathryn commented.  
  
"Are you sure you're not related?" Steve asked,  
  
"Well, we come from totally different parts of the world and I can't say that my parents ever mentioned me having another member of the family who looked like me." Kathryn continued,  
  
"Well maybe you should ask them." Steve said,  
  
Jesse instinctively reached out to put his hand of Kathryn's, he knew this was difficult, it always was when she mentioned her parents,  
  
"I can't she replied, they were in a car accident two years ago, my dad died and shortly after my mum died too, she just couldn't live without him, they'd been together since they were ten. They really loved each other." She finished and went all quite.  
  
"I'm sorry, "Steve said, "I wouldn't have mentioned it if I'd have known,"  
  
"I know you wouldn't," Kathryn said.  
  
"Well what about you Katie, you ever find out anything about another family member?" Amanda asked,  
  
"No, and I can't ask my parents either, my mum died earlier this year and my dad was killed in an accident when I was little. He was t a cabin in the mountains and he slipped trying to get me out of a tree, he fell and hurt his head, he died soon afterwards, but I don't really remember much about him, it was really only my mum who bought me up."  
  
"So we're really no closer to finding out if you to are related," Amanda concluded.  
  
"Well you know maybe not," started Mark, "If you two really wanna know, and you're willing, we could do a DNA test and find out for real, weather your related. So what do you say?"  
  
"Well, I don't mind," offered Kathryn, "It sure would be nice to know."  
  
"Neither do I," confirmed Katie,  
  
"Well that's that then," said Mark, when do you wanna go? Tomorrow?"  
  
"Ok," replied Katie and Kathryn.  
  
Shortly afterwards the girls and Amanda went home, but Jesse stayed behind to talk to Steve. They walked out on to the beach to talk about what had happened before, what had happened that evening and what they were going to do now, ultimately Steve wanted to apologise to Jesse for the way he'd acted, especially when Jesse had apologised before.  
  
"Jess, I'm really sorry for the way I acted, I had no right and I should have given you the benefit of the doubt, after all you were my friend." Steve started,  
  
"Steve it's ok, I'm glad we're friends again, and lets not think about what happened then, lets get on with now, and weather Katie and Kathryn are related,"  
  
"Ok, but I really mean it, I am sorry, you apologised first, thanks Jess, for being a good friend."  
  
Jesse and Steve parted and went their separate ways, Mark was looking down from the balcony smiling, his family was back together and it looked as if Christmas would be happy again this year.  
  
* * * *  
  
A couple of days later Jesse, Kathryn, Katie and Steve found themselves waiting at the hospital for news of the DNA tests, to find out weather they were related or not. All of them were nervous, although none of them were sure why, after all it would be wonderful to know they had a long lost relative, but each of them had a feeling this was going to turn out to be more than simple.  
  
Amanda and Mark eventually came into the doctor's lounge where they were all waiting, the test results were in Marks hands.  
  
"Well guys, we've got your results, and I'm not sure weather you'll like this or not, but it looks like you two are not only related, but are sisters, in fact you two are twins." Mark finally announced, They were all silent, no one knew quite what to say or how to take it, finding out they were related was one thing but sisters and twins, it was almost two much for them to take in. After a long silence, Kathryn finally spoke,  
  
"Well I guess I finally got the sister I always wanted, but why was she always so far away from me, and why didn't anyone ever tell me before? Is it absolutely definite? No mistake?"  
  
"No, there's no mistake, and I don't think I can answer why you were never told, that's with them, if they knew." Mark said  
  
"Well I guess we've got get used to this idea, however strange it is." replied Katie, "I sure wish I'd been told though."  
  
"Hang on Mark, what do you mean if they knew, surely they'd know if they had a daughter somewhere across America." Amanda enquired,  
  
"Well, it's entirely possible that something happened and they didn't know they had another child." Mark said, "It's happened before."  
  
"How would we find out if that happened to us?" asked Katie,  
  
"You know, lets not get carried away here, I just said it might have happened, not that it did." Mark replied,  
  
"I know, but I've got to know, can you understand that, I need to know why my parents didn't tell me I had a sister, and if they knew I had one." Kathryn said definitely.  
  
"Ok, well I would need to know when and where you were both born and the names of your parents." Mark answered, "And I must warn you, we don't know what we might find, so you must prepare yourselves, we could find something that you might not want to know, are you sure you want to do this, rather than just leaving it and being happy not knowing?"  
  
The sisters looked at each other and nodded,  
  
"We know, but we have to do this, we need to know, please help." replied Katie.  
  
"Ok" replied Mark.  
  
* * * *  
  
With only a week to go before Christmas, Jesse, Amanda, Katie and Kathryn had all come round to the beach house to help decorate it ready for Christmas. Amanda had bought along CJ and Dion to help to. Steve was they're waiting for them when they arrived, but Mark had had to work late, and so was going to come later. They had the Christmas tree out and ready for decoration, Steve had picked it up on his way home from the station the evening before. They had gotten all the decorations out and started to decorate the tree when Mark came home. He came in to the lounge and announced to them all that he had had a result on Katie and Kathryn's parents. They all traipsed in the dinning room leaving CJ and Dion to continue decorating the tree.  
  
"Well I started off looking at the hospital you were both born in and it turned out that you were both born in the same hospital, and one here in LA, and luckily for us it was County General. So I sent them a fax telling them that I had two patients and I needed their medical records from when they were born. At first they were reluctant but then I assured them I had your complete backing and they sent them. From that I was able to find out that you were both born in the same wing at the same time." Mark started,  
  
"Well that's hardly surprising since they were both twins." Jesse commented,  
  
"Jess, let him finish," replied Steve,  
  
"Jesse, you say that jokingly, but actually I just assumed that to start with, and I couldn't find anything unusual out at all, they seemed to be two different births, but the DNA said otherwise. So I decided to look at the medical files of you parents and it seemed that they both had different DNA to yourselves."  
  
"So you're saying that neither of us have the right parents?" asked Katie  
  
"Yes, the parents you've been living with are not you're really parents, but according to the records they definitely gave birth to you. I decided to talk to the nurses who were in charge of your births and they distinctly remember that both of you were actually born to the parents that you have grown up with. I then decided to try and match your DNA to that of another couple who could be your parents, and I came up with nothing. Then I sent it out to the hospitals in the area and came up with nothing, so I tried more nationally, and I just received this fax from a small hospital in Montana. It says that there were a couple they're who match the DNA of you two, and they've given a phone number and address to get in contact with them. However none of the doctors of nurses working there now were there when you would have been conceived, so we'll have to talk to them to find out if they are your real parents and why what happened to you did." Mark finished.  
  
Everyone was silent, Katie and Kathryn were confused, but also excited, they really wanted to meet these people who were probably their parents, but so close to Christmas they weren't sure really what to do. Mark suddenly spoke up,  
  
"I haven't contacted Mr and Mrs Davis yet, I thought I'd wait until I'd spoken to you to, do you want me to phone them and arrange a meeting or not?  
  
"That would be helpful, I'm not sure I could talk to them yet." Kathryn said and Katie agreed.  
  
"Ok, I'll do that, but first lets finish decorating the tree." replied Mark and they all went back to decorating the tree and the house ready for Christmas.  
  
* * * *  
  
Five days later, Kathryn and Katie were waiting outside the house of Mr and Mrs Davis wondering how the time with them would go. Both of them had all sorts of questions they wanted to ask them and were both really nervous about the whole meeting. They looked at the house, took a deep breath and walked forward to knock on the door.  
  
After what seemed like an eternity, a fairly elderly man came to open the door, whom they assumed must have been Mr Davis.  
  
"Kathryn and Katie?" asked the man, the girls nodded and he showed them in. The house was quite small, yet tastefully decorated and both girls liked it immediately.  
  
"Come through into the living area girls, and make yourselves comfortable." Mr Davis instructed. The girls came in and found a seat which they settled into and were wondering what to say, when a woman, presumably Mrs Davis came through,  
  
"Hello dears, would you like a drink?" she enquired.  
  
"Yes please, I'll have a coffee." Kathryn started politely,  
  
"And I'll have the same," finished Katie.  
  
"Two coffee's coming up." said Mr Davis as he started on his way to the kitchen to make them. Mrs Davis winked at the girls then said,  
  
"I've got him well house trained. How was you trip over here?"  
  
"Fine, no problems it all went smoothly considering we're travelling around the Christmas period." Katie said.  
  
"Yeah I just hope it's that way on the way home" Kathryn finished.  
  
There was an awkward silence for a few minutes until Mr Davis came back in the room with the coffees for the twins.  
  
"So I expect you want to know why your DNA matches ours and not your parents and why they never told you that you each had a twin." Mrs Davis said getting straight to the point. The girls just looked at her and nodded.  
  
"Ok, I'll begin. About 50 years ago, my husband and me met in the hospital at Montana, where you got our DNA. We had both been transferred there from Los Angeles, where we had met each of your parents, the six of us had each become good friends whilst we stayed there, and lets just say that we all ended up falling in love with the partners that we all eventually married. We'd wanted to have a triple wedding, but we all wanted to live close to each other. We all intended to have lots of children and have parties for them all together, and I'm sure that would have happened to. " She then paused before carrying on, "Anyway the house we were staying in the night the before we were going to get married was bombed, we never found out why that happened, but in the panic, we never saw who came out and who didn't. We managed to escape from the building and for many hours we waited trying to find news of whom had come out, but we never heard. Eventually we were told that they couldn't have survived and it would be best if we just left. We tried to make our lives as best as we could, but going about our normal life when everyday we had to see the place where our friends had died was to painful and eventually we asked for a transfer from LA to anywhere else and we were given Montana. We married shortly afterwards and tried to bury the memories of the nightmare in LA. It was a long time until we had heard anything from LA, but eventually we had a letter from the owner of the house we had stayed in giving us a list of the people who had survived and where they were. On the list amazingly were your parents names, however the addresses which had been given were not the correct ones and for many years after that we tried to get in contact with them again but never did. One day we decided to go to and see if we could try and find your parents, so we took a trip to both New Jersey to your parent Kathryn and your parents Katie in Oklahoma. We saw both your parents, but they didn't recognise us at all, after a couple of weeks we discovered that your parents were not able to have children, and we both knew that more than anything they wanted children. So we decided to talk with the nurses at both hospitals at New Jersey and Oklahoma as well as here at Arizona. We eventually made it possible to give your parents what they wanted most, a child each. As it happened I became pregnant with twins, you two and you were given to each of your parents which is why your identical. I hoped that by doing this a part of us would still be with your parents and with you two and that some how we would be united again. Your parents never actually knew that there were two of you, nor who gave you to them, as we wanted to remain anonymous, but it was done so they both gave birth to you. They couldn't have told as they didn't know, we wrote them both a letter saying that you were a gift from very special friends. I don't know if they ever knew it was from us or not, but I hope now that we've settled this, we can unite our families together again." Mrs Davis concluded.  
  
Everyone was silent, until Katie spoke first,  
  
"Thank you for telling us that, it must have been hard to recall it all, but I understand why you did what you did, it was so nice, if only my parents knew."  
  
"They do, Katie, I'm sure of it, in heaven they know, and I'm sure they must be happy, and Mr and Mrs Davis, we'll always be friends, I promise." Kathryn finished. They all hugged each other and said goodbye, promising to keep in touch. Katie and Kathryn then found their way back to the airport so they could make their way back to their new home for Christmas.  
  
* * * *  
  
At 10:00pm, Jesse and Steve were waiting at the airport for Kathryn and Katie to come home, so they could finish Christmas Eve and prepare for Christmas tomorrow. They had both discussed their presents for the twins with each other and although they both had many special gifts to give them, they had one which above all they hoped would make them feel special and loved, and that they would accept really well.  
  
The announcement that their plane was coming in, made Jesse and Steve get up and wonder to where they had said they would meet them. Half an hour later the girls were coming of the plane as Steve spotted them from above. They all made their way to each other and hugged each other, glad to be home for Christmas. They were lead to Steve's car and they all climbed in, Steve and Katie in the front, Jesse and Kathryn in the back. The girls talked constantly about Arizona, their new parents how nice they were and their flights there and back, but they saved the real story for when they were back in the beach house, so Mark and Amanda could hear it too.  
  
An hour later, Kathryn and Katie were sitting round the Christmas tree just finishing their story about their parents and what they had told them, to Mark, Amanda, Jesse and Steve. Everyone was silent after they finished the story and no one knew quite what to say. Suddenly Mark broke the silence.  
  
"Well guys, it's nearly midnight and we'll want some sleep tonight before Christmas as no doubt the boys will wake us all up in the morning pretty quickly."  
  
"Yeah, they will, and they won't be quite either." Amanda confirmed.  
  
"Ok, lets go to bed then," Steve said, and the others all agreed and traipsed up the stairs to find the room in which they were all sleeping.  
  
* * * *  
  
The following morning the CJ and Dion were up really early and ran around the house singing Christmas carols at the tops of their voices. Kathryn and Katie found it almost impossible to carry on sleeping once they had been woken up by the boys and so they got up and went to go and entertain the boys.  
  
A couple of hours later Jesse and Steve got up and went to find the boys, they went downstairs to see them quietly playing games with Kathryn and Katie and both men looked and smiled as they saw their girlfriends playing with the children. They were dreaming of the wonderful times they would have with them playing with their own children. When Mark and Amanda eventually came down they saw their friends and family all playing like children waiting for their parents to come and give them their presents. It wasn't long before they interrupted their games asking them if they wanted their presents.  
  
"Who wants their Christmas presents then?" Mark asked and was answered by a large shout resembling the word Yes!  
  
Mark stood under the tree giving CJ and Dion the job of dishing out the presents to his large extended family that began to unwrap the pretty paper to reveal their gifts from each other. After the presents were dished out and unwrapped many hugs and thank you's were given before everyone returned to get dressed and have their breakfast.  
  
In middle of the morning, Jesse decided to take Kathryn out for a walk on the beach. They spend a while just wondering and talking about all that had happened over the last two months. They walked for a little longer and passed Katie and Steve also wondering along the beach, Jesse looked at Steve and smiled, they both decided it was time. Jesse lead Kathryn a little further down the beach before reaching in his pocket and falling down on one knee,  
  
"Kathryn," he started, "You've made me so happy, will you marry me?  
  
At that moment all she could do was whisper a small yes, she was so happy, everything in her life had been sorted out, and was the way it should be. She gave Jesse a hug and kissed him and he slipped the ring on her finger before he took her hand and they walked back up to the beach house. Katie and Steve joined them inside and all four took their place at the dinner table where Mark had set out their Christmas dinners.  
  
After dinner the group all assembled in front of the Christmas tree where Jesse and Steve both announced their engagements to the twins and everybody smiled and congratulated them. The boys then started begging Mark to let them sing a song, and so he started by singing Have yourself a Marry little Christmas, the way he had once when his daughter had come to stay a while ago. It was not long before the group had all started singing along, and Mark went to find his camera. Whilst they were still singing, he took a couple of group shots and then had one with himself in it too. Mark smiled as the camera clicked to take the photo of them, his family was altogether again, with some additions, and everyone was happy on Christmas they was they should be. But no one was as happy as Mark was when he looked down on his extended family all singing round the Christmas tree. This Christmas was brilliant, the best he had ever had, and although he wished Kathryn had been their to share it with him and his new family, he knew she was smiling down from heaven at her family, happy the same way Mark was.  
  
* * * *  
  
The End. 


End file.
